This invention relates to apparatus for delivery of a controlled atmosphere to a patient requiring such atmosphere, and more particularly to apparatus which is capable of delivering oxygen, or nebulized water vapor or a combination of the same to a patient, such as a child, for the treatment of croup or the like. The apparatus of the present invention has further application in instances where it is not desirable or impossible for a patient to wear a conventional oxygen mask, such as where a patient has had facial injuries or has been involved in plastic surgery or reconstructive procedures, where it is otherwise not desirable to impossible for the patient to wear a conventional mask against his face.
It is well known to use humification of air to aid in respiratory health during winter months and in disease states affecting the upper and lower respiratory systems. Parents have resorted to steam emanating from showers, teakettles, vaporizers beneath umbrellas, etc., to treat croup, congested nasal passages, and severe coughing paroxysms. Medication, administered under hospital supervision, has subjected patients to cold mists, croup tents, moisture laden oxygen and the like, to provide relief of coughing, shortness of breath and to loosen bronchial mucus in passages.
In the treatment of croup, for example, it is currently the practice to by place an acutely ill, frightened patient, commonly a child, who may be laboring to breath, tired, and coughing, with or without temperature, into a croup tent. Advantages of use of such croup tent are very high humidity in a plastic enclosure with a temperature of plus or minus 60.degree. F. Fog or mist in the tent is intentionally heavy and the outline of a patient can barely be delineated when placed in such a cold croup tent. Condensation within the tent trickles down the inner plastic walls of the tent, and the bedclothing and child's clothing become wet. The hair of the patient's head becomes soaked while 60.degree. F. fog continues to emanate from the head piece of the tent bellows. Compounding the physical discomforts associated with such procedure, the patient, often a young child, is separated from its parents, creating more concern to the patient than his inability to breath.
In the proper operation of a croup tent, a tight fitting canopy must be maintained in order to prevent leakage and loss of oxygen and moisture. Small zippered openings in the canopies have been provided by which a parent can hold a child's hand to calm the child and reassure it. The proper operation of a croup tent requires that the child be covered by a dry blanket, but this is not always possible, particularly during the night. The proper operation also requires that the child's clothing be changed whenever it is damp to the touch, but again, this is often impractical and is not done. Whenever the child is removed from the tent, it is necessary to wipe excess moisture from the skin and hair and wrap the child in a dry blanket. Depending upon the severity of the affliction, a child may require the services of a croup tent for approximately three to five days, depending upon the reason for the therapy and the number of hours per day that the child is in the tent. Accordingly, not only does the tent provide a traumatic experience for the child, but the environmental conditions present within the tent require frequent monitoring.